


Cadence

by orphan_account



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 20:25:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2123514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's what Kaylee expects Inara to be, and then there's what Inara actually <i>is</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cadence

Inara speaks in gold dust and treble clefs. Every word is calculated, soft-toned, so sweet you could taste it like honey. The first time they speak to each other, Kaylee has to duck her head and smile at the sound of her name spoken soft like silk.

They're the antithesis of each other, really. Kaylee talks like dirt shifting underfoot, so gritty and unguarded and pure. Inara is more like the wind that rustles the trees, whispering in your ears like the tempting touch of satin drawing across skin.

Kaylee is sure it's going to be awkward with an honest-to-god companion around all the time. With all that finery and grace, she's the fictitious princess Kaylee dreamed of being as a child when she put on her prettiest dresses and ran around in the dirt.

At first, they see next to nothing of each other. Serenity's temperature equalizer hits a snag a few days after Inara arrives. Kaylee spends hours in making sure the engine doesn't stall out or overheat, spurred on by a new sense of obligation to make Serenity run smooth now that there's a someone used to luxury onboard.

Finally, after crawling out from under the engine, knees aching after nonstop abuse, Kaylee watches the temperature gauge slowly stabilize. She bounds out of the engine room, bare feet slapping against Serenity's floors and echoing through the ship like a victory fanfare. Inside the mess is Mal and Inara, looking bored.

“Cap'n!” Kaylee lunges at Mal and drags him into a hug. “She's all good!”

Mal grunts when he suddenly finds himself with an armful of Kaylee. “What are you yelling about?”

“Engine ain't a problem no more,” Kaylee grins. “Got the temperature back to normal. Shouldn't need a replacement part after all.”

“There was something wrong with the engine?” Inara asks. “Was it serious? I could get us in contact with a good mechanic if there is an emergency.”

“Now, don't you worry about that,” Mal says, ruffling Kaylee's hair. “Ain't a problem with Serenity our little Kaylee couldn't fix.”

Inara looks a bit taken aback before she says some things, soft complements about how _it's amazing that you know so much about engines, Kaylee, you're so young_ , and that _I didn't even know anything was wrong_. It's companion training working its magic, Kaylee thinks, that's all. It's what's making her cheeks heat up.

She doesn't mind much, though. Not like she'd ever get compliments from companions back home, anyway. She'll take what she can get.

-

It's only about two weeks after Inara comes onboard that Kaylee has a crisis.

“Zoe, could I borrow a hair tie,” Kaylee asks, “Had to rig the engine full of 'em till I can scrounge up a replacement part for the accelerator drive, but now I ain't got none for my hair.”

Zoe's face is set in stoic disbelief. “Hold on, our engine is being held together by _hair ties_?”

“Yeah,” Kaylee grins, “Don't worry 'bout it, though. It's not a very important part that's gone, just making sure all the bits around it stay where they're supposed to.”

Zoe nods her head, though her face doesn't soften. “Uh-huh. Well, I'm sorry sweetie. I'm wearing my last one, all my others are broke.”

“Gorramit,” Kaylee mutters. “Won't do to have my hair get stuck in the engine.”

“You could always borrow one of mine,” Inara says from behind them, and Kaylee jumps at the sound of her voice.

Pointedly ignoring the amusement flitting across Zoe's face, Kaylee turns to look at their guest. “Jesus, Inara. Didn't hear you come in.”

“Sorry,” Inara flashes and apologetic grimace. “But the offer still stands. I have some you could use.”

Kayle imagines silk-sheathed elastic weaved with gold thread and flecks of silver. She imagines finery and jewels and bows that would darken and tear under soot and machines. Her smile falls a fraction. “Thanks, but I dunno if that's a good idea. Might wind up in the engine like the rest of them.”  
  
“Oh, come on,” Inara says, not discouraged one bit, “You said you needed one. I have plenty.”

The smile sitting on Kaylee's face is more of a nicety than anything. It would be rude to turn Inara down, but it would also be rude to ruin Inara's nice things. When she doesn't say anything, Inara moves closer. Her dress skims Serenity's floors, silk slippers peeking out with each step.

“I dunno,” Kaylee says, trailing off as Inara reaches for her hand. Kaylee doesn't back away, and when Inara gently grabs her wrist with soft fingers, she lets herself be pulled off with a confused look from Zoe.

The nervous urge to jerk her hand away almost wins over her desire to be polite. Her palms are getting awful sweaty, and sweating on a companion is a crime Kaylee wouldn't be able to sleep on.

She's never been inside of Inara's rented shuttle before. Serenity is her baby, but she's not the prettiest girl in the 'verse. Inara apparently has fingers like Midas, though, because her shuttle is _beautiful_. Inside, Inara lets go of Kaylee's hand and walks over to a wardrobe. Stunned, Kaylee stands still and turns her head, slowly taking in the crimsons and purples where there should be gray and brown. “You sure we're still on Serenity?”

Inara glances over to where Kaylee is staring wide-eyed at the tapestries on the wall. “Of course,” she says, confused laughter bubbling in her voice.

“I ain't never even seen a hotel room this pretty,” Kaylee tentatively brushes her fingers against the edge of the bed. The comforter is softer than _anything_ she owns. “You made my girl look like a room in a palace.”

“Well, I'm not quite finished decorating yet,” Inara admits, and Kaylee can't even imagine what else could even be _done_ with this room.

“It's gorgeous in here, Inara.”

“Well, thank you,” Inara says, tone light like she's genuinely flattered. She holds her hand out in front of Kaylee, “Here. This should do it.”

Between her fingers is a plain black hair tie.

Huh.

“Thanks a lot, Inara,” Kaylee beams up at her like she'd just been given silky drawers and a ball gown.

“You're welcome, Kaylee,” Inara says, and there's that thrill again, the spark running down her spine that feels like carefully painted fingernails trailing across her skin. Kaylee wonders if all companions are like this, all pretty and kind with voices like soft blankets and stardust.

-

The first time they get drunk together, really truly _shitfaced_ , Inara laughs unguardedly. It's a giggle that fluctuates in her throat, soft and pretty as butterfly wings, but punctuated with gasps and soft snorts. Her nose wrinkles and her teeth show. It's _adorable_.

A smile spreads across Kaylee's face until it snowballs into a steady stream of content laughter. Soon they're both sitting there giggling, no recollection of what they're even laughing about. Mal walks in when Inara bows her head to laugh against Kaylee's shoulder, and their laughter slowly trails away.

“The Hell's this?” Mal asks, picking up the bottle between them, “I didn't bring you two aboard to put a dent in the ship's alcohol stock.”

Inara is holding her stomach now, nearly silent as her body rocks with the force of her laughter. Shame she's quiet now, Kaylee thinks, but it's still cute. She answers for the both of them. “Lighten up, Mal. Just a little R&R.”

“That best stand for “repair” and “repair more” because that's what I'm paying Kaylee to do.”

“Calm down, Mal,” Inara slurs once she finally gets control over her giggles, “Serenity is just fine. She's _more_ than fine, she's. . . She's the finest little ship in the 'verse.”

In that moment, some giddy part of Kaylee's heart swells past capacity. Serenity is her _baby_. She's so happy that she smiles up at Mal and says, “I _like_ Nara.”

Inara breaks out into another fit of giggles, and Mal just waves his hand at them and wanders away.

-

Kaylee finds herself in Inara's shuttle often after that. She's not afraid to touch anymore, not afraid to explore with her rough hands and curious eyes. When she asks questions, Inara tells her stories about people and planets Kaylee's never heard of before.

Their favorite thing is when Kaylee stops by late at night, face and hands and feet scrubbed clean. She'll fold her legs underneath herself on the bed and Inara will perch behind her with a comb in her hand. It reminds Kaylee of sleepovers when she was a little kid.

It keeps the homesickness at bay.

“Is being a companion hard?” Kaylee asks one night, innocence ringing through her voice. At first, Inara just laughs softly.  
  
“Not anymore,” she says, dragging the comb through Kaylee's hair. It feels like how Inara's voice sounds, all gentle and comfortable. “The training was more difficult than the job, I think. After a while, my duties have become second nature.”

“Like me and Serenity, huh?”

Inara hums in confirmation. Kaylee closes her eyes against the sound. It could serenade her to sleep.

“Betcha I couldn't be a companion,” Kaylee muses. “Not with a voice like this.”

“I love your accent,” Inara says, and Kaylee can hear the smile even if she can't see it. “It fits you. It's cute.”

Kaylee tries to bite back her own grin. “You're just saying that.”

“Some clients request specific accents,” Inara says. “There's a certain appeal to regional dialects.”

“I thought your training would get rid of that?” Kaylee turns her head to look at Inara.

“Some women lose their accents,” Inara drags her fingers through Kaylee's hair, “But not all of them.”

“Did you have a different accent?” Kaylee asks, and Inara laughs.

“No,” she says. “My accent has always been like this.”

“That's just fine,” Kaylee turns away, suddenly embarrassed by her wide smile. “I like your voice plenty the way it is.”

-

It's a gradual progression, and if either of them said they didn't expect it, they'd be lying.

One night Inara is sitting cross legged on her bed, Kaylee's head resting in her lap. They talk about boys, and clients, and friends. They talk about girls, about childhood friends with braided hair and wide eyes who are far away now.

Inara's voice sounds different to Kaylee's ears these days. When they met, it was like being addressed by a queen. It's more casual now, less measured and precise. It washes over Kaylee like the comforting rumble of Serenity's engine late at night when she and Wash are the only ones awake.

The gentle drag of Inara's fingernails along her arm distracts her, and her eyelids start drawing closed. Inara doesn't seem to mind, she just soldiers through her story and coaxes a few laughs out from where they're hiding in Kaylee's sleepy brain.

Somewhere along the line they decide it's late enough that they'd both best be turning in for the night. Kaylee moves to get up, but Inara stops her once she's sitting with her legs over the side of the bed.

“I have something to show you,” Inara says, and moves Kaylee's hair to one side. Kaylee thinks she's going to have her hair put up, until Inara plants a kiss as soft and fleeting as the beating of a beeswing on the back of her neck.

Kisses on the cheek, kisses on the forehead, these are friendly things, things they give out liberally already. Kisses on the back of the neck, these are something else entirely.

Inara's lips on the knob of her spine feel like the hum of Serenity under her hands. If it was Zoe, or Wash, or Mal, or _god forbid_ , Jayne, she would feel uncomfortable. She'd chuckle all insincere and feel obligated to crack a joke, just to make sure nobody was being serious. Instead, she smiles and heats up so warm she's sure Inara can see the flush spreading to her neck.

“What'cha doing, 'Nara?”

“Necks are very beautiful,” Inara murmurs, lips brushing Kaylee's skin. “My favorite dresses are the ones with low backs. I can put my hair up and show off the back of my neck and feel like the most beautiful woman in the 'verse.”

“You don't need no help with that,” Kaylee says, and immediately feels like smacking herself. Inara just presses her face into Kaylee's shoulder and laughs.

“You sound like one of my clients,” Inara says.

“That so?” Kalyee says, turning so Inara is forced to move and look back up at her. There's a twinkle in her eye, like she gets when she's drunk. Neither of them have touched a drop of alcohol today, though. Kalyee wonders if her eyes are twinkling the same.

“It is,” Inara says, moving in close and shifting her eyes to somewhere around Kaylee's mouth. “I think I like hearing it better from you, though.”

“On account of my accent?” Kalyee teases.

“No,” Inara says. Her eyes are on Kaylee's now, soft but dark. There's all sorts of mischief going on behind them. “It's because I don't know you as a client. I know you as a friend.”

Kaylee's cheeks are aching from smiling so much. “You ever gonna kiss me on the mouth, Nara?”

Inara breathes out a laugh and bows her head. “That obvious, am I?”

“Yeah,” Kaylee admits. “But you ain't gotta be a companion right now. I ain't a client.”

“No you are not,” Inara says, and kisses Kaylee.

Kaylee's thought about kissing a companion before, she's not going to lie. Specifically, she's thought of kissing Inara. Call it a curiosity, she wanted to know how a bona fide kisser would differ from your average person with an average pair of lips.

Results are inconclusive, though, because they both simultaneously crack up after a second. Kaylee falls forward to stifle her giggles in Inara's neck. Inara just drags her in close until they're clinging to each other and laughing at nothing.

They calm down eventually, laughter dimming into small tremors shaking their shoulders. Kaylee drags herself away and smiles. “Gosh, I'm more tired than I thought, huh?”

“We can try again tomorrow,” Inara promises.

“Night, Inara,” Kaylee rubs at her eyes.

“Goonight, Kaylee,” Inara replies, and kisses Kaylee again. Nobody laughs this time, but Kaylee is grinning when Inara pulls back.

-

It's like sharing a secret, except they're only really hiding it from four people, and they're not really _hiding_ it at all. They've always been affectionate and friendly with each other. A few more casually touches and pecks on the cheek won't go amiss.

After a few days, Zoe knows, Kaylee is sure of it. She looks at them with pursed lips and cocked brows and eyes that say _you crazy kids_.

A little while later, when they're in private, Kaylee is buzzing out of her skin with anticipation. Inara hasn't forgotten about her promise, and there's no point in tip toeing around it. When she kisses Kaylee again, neither of them laugh.

Until they pull back.

Inara has one hand in front of her mouth, like she thinks her giggles are impolite. The other one is waving in front of her face like she's trying to shoo away the nervous mood.

“I don't know why I keep laughing,” she says, and Kaylee laughs even more.

“Well it's a pretty queer thing,” Kaylee says, “A companion kissing her smelly mechanic crew mate.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Inara laughs with a slightly hysterical edge, “Please don't tell me that was a pun.”

Kaylee beams. “Maybe it was. What are you gonna do, kiss me quiet?”

Inara rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. Before Kaylee can get a word in, she's being kissed again, and they both manage to keep themselves together when they pull back. Kaylee wants to say something, but she doesn't know what. The phantom sensation of Inara's lips on hers is like the whirring of the engine beneath her skin, like roaring activity looking for a purpose. Inara licks her bottom lip, nothing more than the quick flick of her tongue. When Kaylee drags her eyes away from that red mouth, there's a clear invitation in Inara's gaze.

So she takes it.

Kaylee kisses Inara once, quickly. And then again, and again and soon her mouth is moving slower, her breathing coming heavier. Soon, Inara licks gently at Kaylee's upper lip, and the noise she makes in response is more of a mewl than anything.

It seems like Inara knows what she's doing, being a companion and all, and Kaylee is willing to trust her with this. Gently, so gently Kaylee feels like a delicate thing, Inara pushes her back until they're lying on the bed. She's stopped paying attention to anything that isn't Inara's tongue in her mouth, so when she feels a hand snake under her tank top, she gasps.

“I'm sorry,” Inara breathes, voice heavy. “We can stop –”

“Nah, nah,” Kaylee mutters, and she's surprised at how breathless she sounds. “You can go ahead. I want you to go ahead.”

Inara nods, brushing their foreheads together, and lightly drags her nails along the curve of Kaylee's side. Just as Kaylee closes her eyes and tips her head back, a pounding at the door shocks the two of them apart.

“Kaylee, you in there?” Mal's voice booms through the door. “Gorramit, Inara, I told you to stop stealing my crew. There's law breaking to be done.”

“Coming!” Kaylee shouts, and her voice cracks. Another fit of laughter comes over Inara, and Kaylee playfully tries to shush her.

“Yeah, yeah,” Mal shouts back. “ETA in ten.”

Kaylee turns to Inara. “Guess I should be going, huh?”

“Wouldn't want to delay Mal's most recent disturbance of the peace,” Inara says, but her smile doesn't quite reach her eyes.

“Can I come back to see you when we're done?”

Inara grasps one of Kaylee's hands in hers and places a single kiss on the knuckles. It tickles Kaylee pink, like she's getting a proper knight's sendoff from her princess.

“I'll be waiting for you.”

-

None of the crew dies, Serenity takes no damage, Jeyne doesn't kill anyone he doesn't have to, and they don't completely botch the job. Overall, not a bad day. Not a bad day at all.

Kaylee wastes no time scrubbing herself down and throwing on some clothes that _aren't_ stained in god knows what. Then she marches her ass to Inara's shuttle before her nerve can pack it's bags and run.

Inara doesn't say anything, doesn't flatter Kaylee or bat her eyelashes or offer to pour some tea. She just holds her hands out, smiling like she had been waiting, and tugs Kaylee onto the bed.

They fall back with an _umph_  that could have come from either of them. Kaylee isn't focussing too much on Inara's voice at the moment, not when she has Inara's fingers gently pulling her hair tie free.

Before long, they're right back where they were hours ago. But this time, Kaylee is sprawled out on top of Inara. It's daunting, looking down at the perfectly kept face peering back at her with heavy lids. It feels like responsibility sitting right between her shoulder blades, weighing her down. But if she can keep Serenity in top shape to weave through the stars, Kaylee figures she can handle Inara.

There's more kissing, hardly chaste but not yet _dirty_. Kaylee is laughing, giggling because she can, because she feels so out of her element but still so safe all wrapped up in Inara that she has to laugh.

Because she's happy.

Her fingertips run up Inara's thigh with a timid sort of awkwardness. There's been plenty of boys who have treated her right, but never any girls. It's daunting, having a companion clinging to her like this. But Inara's breath catches when Kaylee's fingers press against her damp panties, so Kaylee figures she must be doing something right.

She starts moving her fingers back and forth, gentle in a way that is less teasing and more nervous. Every hiss, every groan, every sudden intake of breath encourages her to grow more brave until the heel of her palm is rubbing against Inara.

Kaylee is glad she keeps her nails trimmed short when Inara starts grinding down against her fingers and groaning high in her throat.

“Is it okay if I go farther?” she asks.

“Sweetie, _yes_ ,” Inara breathes. She cups Kaylee's face and kisses her hard as Kaylee nudges her panties aside and tentatively drags her fingers along the slickness of Inara's slit.

It doesn't take long before Inara is panting steadily, breathing shakily against Kalyee's ear. Her hips are moving now, meeting the upward thrust of Kaylee's hand until she's doing most of the work, fucking herself full of Kaylee's fingers. Kaylee's breath is coming faster now, too. She squeezes her thighs together to fight off the heat between her legs.

Kaylee has to stop a minute and smile down at the mess she's made of Serenity's elegant companion. Her lipstick is smudged to hell, most of it is probably decorating Kaylee's skin. Her once neatly tied hair is clinging to the sweat on her forehead and splayed across the crimson sheets. And her dress, her pretty purple silky dress, lies well above the top of her panties, falling from one shoulder, catching the curve of her breasts.

Kaylee's pretty damn proud as she tugs Inara's panties up and off her long dark legs. She feels a stray leg hair or two on the way and smiles at the reassurance that Inara is just as imperfect as her.

Once Inara is bared to her, panties flung somewhere unimportant and dress hiked up to her ribs, Kaylee leans down and sucks a kiss right above Inara's bellybutton. The muscles jump and twitch under her mouth as Inara giggles and drags Kaylee's hair off of her face.

“That alright?” Kaylee asks, cheeky grin lighting up her face.

“Trust me, it's more than alright,” Inara breathes. Something about her face, the heavy lids and smudged lipstick, it lights Kaylee up even more. She surges down, biting and kissing and licking her way down Inara's stomach and hip bones until she can feel the beginnings of neatly trimmed hair.

She's had it done to her before, but she's never put her mouth on someone else's lady parts. Kaylee hesitates for about ten seconds, thinks _what the hell_ , and takes the plunge.

On cue, Inara groans high in her throat, and it's not the soft practiced moan of a companion. It's rough and primal and almost guttural in its crudeness. Not ugly, though. Never ugly.

-

After, when Inara's breathing has come back to her and Kaylee feels like she needs another shower, Inara presses kisses against the side of her throat.

“Live up to your expectations?” she asks, and Kaylee doesn't understand.

“Huh?”

“Me. A companion,” Inara mutters. Her voice isn't wrecked like Kaylee's, but it's low and teasing in ways that makes round two sound like a possibility.

“Hope you're not expecting me to pay,” Kaylee says, suddenly embarrassed.

Inara just snorts out a quick laugh. “If anything, I should be paying you.”

Kaylee's face burns red under her smile. “Flatterer.”

“No, really,” Inara drags herself up and straddles Kaylee on the bed. That pretty dress is still hanging from her shoulders. It feels cool against Kaylee's heated skin. “I needed that.”

“We should do this again sometime, then.”

“ _Oh_ ,” Inrar's eyebrow arches. “It's a date?”

“Sure,” Kaylee grins, leaning up to kiss Inara. “I'll dress up real pretty and take you someplace nice.”

“You're so good to me, sweetie,” Inara mutters, and kisses Kaylee again and again and again.

-

Inara speaks in star stuff and engine soot. Every word is charming, familiar, so kind you could feel it warming you up like the burning suns outside. Every time they speak to each other, Kaylee grins at the sound of her name spoken sweet like strawberries.

 


End file.
